The present invention relates generally to a system and a method for degrading the operating characteristics of a radar or other radio frequency system such that the system has reduced detection range or significant aiming errors. More specifically, the present invention relates to a system and a method for using paint-like coatings or particles that can absorb and emit radio signals to disrupt the operation of a radar system.
Radar systems use electromagnetic waves to identify characteristics such as range, altitude, direction, or speed of both moving and stationary objects such as aircraft, ships, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar system antenna sends out pulses of radio waves or microwaves. These pulsed waves are reflected off of objects in their path, and return to the antenna, which detects and measures the reflected waves. Using the time it takes for the reflected waves to return to the antenna, a radar system computer calculates how far away the object is, its radial velocity and other characteristics.
In military applications, it is generally useful to provide a means for disrupting an enemy's fire control radar system so that missiles that rely upon this system for guidance cannot be accurately directed to their intercept point. Today, the most effective, and destructive, countermeasure to radar is to attack the system using an anti-radiation missile (ARM). An ARM homes-in on the transmit beam of the radar and uses kinetic or chemical energy to neutralize the radar. This approach, to make little pieces out of big pieces of the radar, has the drawback that this process is thermodynamically irreversible and may in fact be viewed as a hostile act by the government or organization that has deployed the radar. An ARM attack would certainly be viewed as an unfriendly act by the personnel situated close to the insulted radar. Thus, there is a general need for a system and a method to disrupt radar operation without limiting the ability of the radar to recover from the disruption at a later time.